Orbital

Dunton Green

Orbital are the brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll, an electronic duo from Dunton Green in Kent. They took their name from the M25, the London orbital motorway that was central to the early rave scene. They had worked as bricklayers in their father's business before they began recording in 1987, and they named Kraftwerk, OMD, Depeche Mode and Cabaret Voltaire among their influences. Paul described the early Orbital as a "low-cost bedroom New Order/Severed Heads".

Chime was recorded in 1989 in a stair cupboard at their parents' house in Sevenoaks. The DJ Jazzy M played the cassette in his London record shop and released it on his Oh Zone label that December. Pete Tong's FFRR gave it a wider release in March 1990 and it reached number 17 in the UK. On Top of the Pops they were told to mime, so they wore anti-Poll Tax T-shirts and left their mains plugs on top of the equipment where viewers could see them. The show did not invite them back for six years.

The III EP of January 1991 introduced Belfast and Satan. The first album, Orbital 1, followed that September.

Two untitled albums

The first two albums were officially untitled, so fans know them as the Green Album and the Brown Album. The 1992 Radiccio EP carried Halcyon, built around a backmasked vocal sample of Kirsty Hawkshaw from Opus III's It's a Fine Day. Orbital 2 came out on 24 May 1993 and reached number 28 in the UK. It opens with Time Becomes, a looped line from Star Trek: The Next Generation played against itself in phase, a trick meant to make vinyl buyers think their copy was faulty. Select's Andrew Harrison called the record "infinitely inventive, unique in its conception and electronically sexy". Mixmag placed it ninth in a 1996 list of the fifty best dance albums.

Glastonbury and Snivilisation

Orbital won the NME award for Vibes Best Dance Act early in 1994, but it was their headline set at Glastonbury on 25 June 1994 that brought the most attention. Channel 4's expanded coverage put it in front of a huge audience, and Q later counted it among the fifty best gigs of all time. Phil Hartnoll said in 2022 that the third album had not even been released when they played. Paul said in 2024 that the band were "a little bit of a bridge between indie and electronic". They mixed and sequenced their tracks on the fly, wearing head-mounted torches behind banks of equipment.

Snivilisation appeared on 8 August 1994 and reached number four. It arrived as the Criminal Justice Act gave the police greater powers over unlicensed raves, and the single Are We Here? was issued with a four-minute silent remix called Criminal Justice Bill?. Alison Goldfrapp sang on that track and on Sad But True. Melody Maker's David Bennun called the album "the true classical music of the Nineties".

In Sides and the singles

In Sides followed on 29 April 1996 and reached number five. On vinyl it was a three-LP box set with one track to a side, which gave the album its name. The single The Box reached number 11 in the UK, with a video starring Tilda Swinton. Select gave the album five out of five, and its Stuart Muirhead wrote that the Hartnolls wanted to make "21st century classical music you can dance to" and had succeeded. In 1997 a live version of Satan and their reworking of the theme from The Saint both reached number three, and they re-recorded Satan with Metallica's Kirk Hammett for the Spawn soundtrack. Work 1989-2002 gathered their singles in 2002.

Splits and returns

The Middle of Nowhere followed in 1999 and The Altogether in 2001. In 2004 the duo split up after a last run of shows that ended with a Peel Session at Maida Vale on 28 July, and Blue Album appeared as those shows took place. They announced a reunion in November 2008 and played their first show back in June 2009. Wonky came out on 2 April 2012, and that year they performed Where Is It Going? at the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games while Stephen Hawking delivered a speech. On 21 October 2014 they announced that they were parting ways. They reunited in February 2017 and released Monsters Exist on 14 September 2018 and Optical Delusion on 17 February 2023. At Glastonbury in June 2024 their guests were Tilda Swinton and Mel C.